Parents in Morton Grove district demand explanation for resignations

School board members refuse to answer questions

February 22, 2008|By Liam Ford, Tribune reporter

Parents who have come to expect stable leadership in their Morton Grove school district showed up in force for a Board of Education meeting Thursday night to voice concerns about the recent resignations of the district's superintendent and middle school principal.

The board of Golf School District 67 accepted the resignation last month of Suellen Girard, who had been superintendent for less than a year.

About 40 people turned out for the meeting, which became contentious as district residents complained about a lack of information from the board.

Board members took questions and comments for more than an hour, but, to the ire of many in the crowd, they would not answer questions regarding Girard's resignation or the search for her replacement, citing advice from the board's attorney.

"We have to protect the privacy of individuals just as we have to protect the privacy of individual students," Board President Meryl Gale said to murmurs of dissent. Gale promised to have written answers to the questions from the meeting posted on the district's Web site within a week.

Vanessa Clohessy, the board's attorney, said the refusal to answer questions was because of personnel and privacy issues, with board members wanting to be sure not to breach state law in commenting on personnel issues.

In response, Madeleine Tsuchiya, who has been in the district for 20 years, told the board, "Please note that you have been voted on, but you can be voted off."

The district has about 550 pupils at Hynes Elementary School and Golf Middle School, both in Morton Grove. More than half the district's students speak a language other than English at home, but they score well on standardized tests, officials say.

Girard, who was hired last year to replace 15-year veteran Linda Marks, resigned for "personal reasons," said interim Supt. Jim Gustafson. Girard was unavailable for comment Thursday.

The new superintendent would take over July 1 and would be paid about $200,000 a year.

Thursday's board meeting degenerated at several points into cross-talk, with attendees voicing dissatisfaction with the lack of a specific explanation for Girard's resignation.

"A lot of speculation is taking place, because we don't have an open connection" between parents and the board, said Liz Frake, who has two pupils in the system.

Many of the audience members who spoke also questioned why Marks, the previous superintendent, was recently retained as a consultant for the board after retiring from a position that saw her salary at one point among the top five for school administrators in Illinois.

Although the matter was discussed at a previous meeting and voted upon in open session, school board members refused to reveal the terms of Marks' consulting contract. However, according to minutes of a previous board meeting reviewed by the Tribune, Marks will be paid $800 a day for up to 45 days.

Among the questions the board would not answer were whether Marks will spearhead the search for Girard's replacement and whether the consulting firm that was paid $25,000 to find Girard would offer their services for free because of her short tenure.

Around the same time officials announced Girard's departure, they said that Keith Westman, principal of Golf Middle School, was expected to leave at the end of the year to work for a local education technology company. "It was unfortunate, but they were unrelated," said Gustafson, who also is the district's business manager. "We're a small school district ... so when you lose anyone, it has a larger impact. But it happens in any organization."

Westman assured all present that he was leaving not because of dissatisfaction with the district but because of a better opportunity in the private sector.

PTA President Susan Meyer said that regardless of who is in charge next year, communication will be vital. "Our families are very used to being able to get in touch with their administrators, their educators -- we would not want that culture to change under a new administration," she said.